


Tell me it won't hurt

by madammina



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Ear Piercing, F/M, Fluff, I haven't played Champion's Ballad yet so I don't know if this contradicts anything, pre calamity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 14:10:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15121124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madammina/pseuds/madammina
Summary: Link is prepared to undergo ceremonial ear piercing... mostly.





	Tell me it won't hurt

Heroes - the reincarnated hero he was apparently, not the people he idolized growing up or that he read about in books - had a... separate tradition you could call it. They were set apart in a few different ways. 

Reincarnation was stupid. 

Why couldn't he be his own person? The other champions were their own people. They may have tradition behind them, but Urbosa wasn't the same as Nabooru for example. Zelda may have the reincarnation thing with Hylia and the other Zelda's too... but it wasn't... it was different somehow. She would have grown up knowing it. And, yes, that was bad in its own way. She had made it VERY clear that she wanted to study the machines and not study magic or her status as a goddess of sorts. But she also wasn't plucked out of her families house at 12 when you held a sword and it glowed. 

As familiar as the sword felt, he still wanted to go home to his family. He hadn't seen them in months. It was all preparation now. Not just "how to use a sword" he would have learned that anyway. It was studying what the previous Links - oh thank Farore that Link was a common name or this would have been so much weirder - had done. Which was a problem as it seemed none of them had decided to write down what they had done. The bit about the Farmboy Link turning into a wolf HAD to have been a fairy tale, right? Or the one about the Kokiri looking like Hylian children? Or the one about the daydream of the whale. None of it made sense, and it all made too much sense. Link would never say animals spoke to him, but he could tell when the wind changed much faster than the other warriors, and the seasons turned when he predicted they would. 

It was just too much, really. Maybe that was it. The other Champions were either born or chose their position. He had not. 

He needed to talk this over with someone else, other than Zelda. It wasn't right to put this onto her. 

Link got up from his bed and moved to the window in his room in the castle. He was a peasant, it was to be done simply. He was a Champion and deserved that respect. He was Link, Hero of Hyrule and needed...

His room was a mess. The clothes he had brought from his home, and his mother's recipes. The bed that only the chosen may sleep upon. The gifts from the other races of Hyrule, to show they accepted that he was chosen. The Weapons and training dummies he could use when he wasn't training openly. The books of histories that told the myths of the last Links who faced Ganon and won Again and Again and Again...

Naryu bless him, he needed to be himself. His ACTUAL self, whoever that was. 

At least the view was nice. He could look over Castle Town and from there into the distant mountains and plains of Central Hyrule. A farm was out there that apparently the version of himself that was the Hero of Time used to visit. A Daughter there was a guess on who he had married. 

Link had never gone there. He didn't know what memories would be there if any. 

The stone warmed in the sun, and he could hear the banners flap in the wind. Sounds came up from the town as he looked down upon it. 

He knew he had to protect it. It would be stupid to let it fall. 

But the issue was, who was saying that? 

Today a new ceremony was to take place. All the Links over 16 got their ears pierced. Why? He didn't know. He had no memory - reincarnated or otherwise - to explain it. 

And he didn't want to do it. 

He slumped back down and glanced at the moat. It was so far below, so the archers could pick off any threat, but even from here he could see something going against the current...

a pinkish red set of scales broke through the water and a face with a gold headdress peaked up. He could see the faintest glimmers from here. 

With a smile, he grabbed his traveler's cloak and rushed down to the docks. 

***  
"LINK!" Mipha smiled as she pulled herself out of the water. She almost immediately stopped, tilted her head then dodged a dock worker as she made her way over to him. She reached out gently and touched his cheek. He turned his head aside. "Do you want to go talk about it?"  
***  
A half an hour later, they were eating a rice and fish meal in Castle Town. Link, now finished with explaining the ear piercing, took the remainder of the food from Mipha and finished it as she looked at his ears. 

"It's not the ears that are the issue." She finally said. He glanced up, a piece of trout half out of his mouth. "You don't want to deal with being a Champion." 

Link slowly pulled the fish into his mouth and chewed. 

"I understand. I am Princess of the Zora tribe. We are chosen for many things. You feel like you forced into it, and if you don't get the ears pierced then a new Champion can be chosen." 

Link leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. 

"I know I said I would always protect you, and I will." She gave a small nod, " And Urbosa may have more specific words for you. But it is fine to be scared, and you are not stupid for fearing this." 

Link blinked in surprise. 

"We Zora may have a longer lifespan, but concrete changes can be scary. You know everything is different." She reached up and fingered some of the royalty exclusive gold designs on her headdress. A small hylian child stared at her until her mother dragged the child away. "And that's ok." Mipha stood up and walked over to Link. She held out her hand, and he gently took it. 

Hylians were warm-blooded, and his skin felt warm even as the sun set behind the mountains of Hyrule. Lights went up in the town, casting small circles of light onto the streets below. Link's other hand reached up to his ear and rubbed the lobe. She resisted the urge to kiss him on top of his head that was so unlike the Zora's. It was too forward, even now. Even as the world settled around them. 

"Link." She finally said softly. "You are Hylia's Champion." He looked at her with blue eyes that rivaled any sea. "It is an honor and a duty, we both know that. And with that comes tasks that we must do, even as we do not want them. I may be the Healer of the Zora, but you carry the Blade of Evil's Bane. It is not a task you want. It is a task too heavy to be carried by even most Links. But it is not impossible. Most things in your life will seem heavy, but you must face them. This is just one of many. The act is small, but the meaning is great." She paused, then looked back at him. The starlight glimmered in his eyes. It was nothing like the night sky reflected in Lanaryu's Great Spring, but it was close. 

"Let me be your companion for now." She finally said. "To support you while you take a step forward. And know this, Link." She took her other hand and held it to his cheek. "You are you. You will always be you. Reincarnation or not, no Link has lived your life. And you will not live the life of another's. You are unique among Links, cherish it." 

He put his other hand over the one she used to hold his face and stood up. He looked back at her too, really looked. at the scales under her headdress and her eyes and teeth that marked her as so nonhuman, and yet... yet she saw in his eyes it didn't matter. He leaned his head forward until their foreheads touched. She could smell him now and could place nothing of the scents. They were so far from what the Zora knew. And yet, yet it made Link. Truly made him, as he was and would be. 

And with a deep, shuddering sigh, Link let go of one of her hands but held onto the other. Then he turned to face the castle. They walked in side by side, ready to face destiny together.


End file.
